Mark Lamarr
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| Mark Lamarr | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mark Jones 7 January 1967 Swindon, Wiltshire, England |
| Years active | 1985 – Present |
| Mark Lamarr | |
| Show | Shake Rattle & Roll |
| Station(s) | BBC Radio 2 |
| Time slot | 21:00–22:00. Thursday |
| Show | The Reggae Show Alternative Sixties God's Jukebox |
| Station(s) | BBC Radio 2 |
| Time slot | 21:00–22:00 Wednesday 21:30–22:30 Monday 00:00–03:00 Saturday |
| Style | Disc jockey |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Website | www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/lamarr |
Mark Lamarr (born Mark Jones on 7 January 1967 in Swindon, Wiltshire) is an English comedian, radio DJ and television presenter.
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[edit] Early life
Lamarr was born in the Park South area of Swindon and has three elder sisters. His father is Irish. He passed five O-Levels at Park School (renamed Oakfield School) and dropped out of school at 17. After his poem "Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Work" was published in 1987, his act developed from poetry to stand-up comedy. He took to performing at The Comedy Store, London in 1985, was spotted on the touring circuit for the launch of Channel 4's The Big Breakfast in 1992 and co-presented The Word.
Mark Lamarr is known for his interest in the London tram system.[1]
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Television
Lamarr first came to the public's attention as a co-presenter of the early 90s late night variety show The Word. The magazine format of the series allowed for interviews, live music, features and even game shows. The flexible late-night format meant that guests could do just about anything to be controversial. Talking about his TV career to Jo Brown of Cheers Magazine, Lamarr said The Word was:
| “ | No fun at all; it was a horrible, horrible, repulsive environment to work in, mainly due to the company. They were just very... just an obnoxious group of people to deal with, and I think that came across in the shows they ended up producing."[2] | ” |
Between 1992 and 1996 he was an outside presenter on The Big Breakfast.
Between 1995 and 1997 he appeared as a team captain in the surreal panel show Shooting Stars, where he displayed a mixture of dour boredom and contempt towards hosts Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer who, in turn, mocked his "50s throw-back" appearance. Lamarr declined to return for the fourth series in 2002, claiming he did not want to be typecast for appearing on panel shows. He said of his experience on the series:
| “ | "Shooting Stars was strangely no fun whatsoever, because I was sort of playing a particularly moody, almost mute character and you end up just doing that... I mean it was always fun with Vic and Bob because they are old friends and it was nice working with them, but no, it wasn't fun.[3] | ” |
Lamarr was host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks when the show launched in 1996 and continued in this role until 2005. After 150 episodes it was announced that he was to take a break to concentrate on other projects. The first series in 2006 was hosted by guest presenters, and it was then hosted on a permanent basis by Simon Amstell, one of the guest presenters from the early 2006 series, until the show's 21st series in 2008/09, after which Amstell left his position as host. The 22nd series, which starts airing on 1st October 2009, will feature a variety of different guest-hosts for each episode.
The two series of acclaimed sitcom Fifteen Storeys High were co-written by Lamarr with comedian Sean Lock and Martin Trenaman. He was also credited as producer under his real name, Mark Jones.[citation needed]
[edit] Radio
On radio, Mark has presented his own show on BBC GLR, BBC Radio Five Live and has presented occasional shows on BBC Radio 1.
On 20 July 1998, Lamarr launched his radio show on BBC Radio 2 called Shake, Rattle and Roll, where he plays tracks from his own sizeable record collection of obscure rock and roll gems. He also presents The Reggae Show series and Mark Lamarr's Alternative 60s, where he presents lesser known tracks from the 1960s.
On 22 April 2006, Mark began a new show on Radio 2 airing Friday Nights/Saturday mornings and named 'God's Jukebox'. The show airs from Midnight to 3am and during the show, he plays a wide variety of music from the past 70 years including Soul, Ska, Reggae, Country, Gospel and Rap. He also, with Jo Brand, regularly covers the Jonathan Ross Saturday morning show on Radio 2 while Ross is on holiday.
Mark presents a music show for British Airways on-board listeners as part of their in-flight entertainment. In this show he keeps up the eclectic nature of his radio shows by presenting a usually obscure mix of rock and roll, blues, reggae, soul and R 'n B.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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